Jailbirds
by bcbdrums
Summary: Drakken swallowed nervously as he peered over Shego's shoulder. The number of officers pointing weapons at them in the station's lobby was enough to make even the most confident villain squirm. Well, except Shego. Her smirk only grew as more officers poured into the room, which made Drakken even more uncomfortable with the pull of the handcuffs where they were bound together.


**_A/N: Inspired by this lovely fanart on Tumblr by benjimators: benji-the-art-blog. tumblr. kom/post/188642549849/3-years-since-i-first-use-a-drawing-tablet-i?is_highlighted_post=1_**

**_Title is thanks to GothicThundra. My super-lame title idea was 'Something There That Wasn't There Before.' So yes, thank you GT!_**

* * *

Drakken swallowed nervously as he peered over Shego's shoulder. The number of police officers surrounding them and pointing weapons at them in the police station's lobby was enough to make even the most confident villain squirm.

Well, except Shego. Her smirk had only grown as more officers poured into the room, which made Drakken even more uncomfortable with the pull of the handcuff on his wrist where they were bound together.

It had been the dumbest of bad luck for them, and good luck for Kim Possible's side-kick. An accidental boot to Shego's face had left her down for the count, and him with the choice of abandoning her as he made his own escape, or staying by her side. His face was the first thing she saw when she awoke to the sound of sirens and an angry voice of authority on a bullhorn.

After hours of processing and the briefest of medical checks—they hadn't gone quietly—they were now clothed in far-too familiar orange jumpsuits and cuffed together for transport to a high-security prison somewhere he had never heard of. But the officers had just made the mistake of letting go of Shego's arms for the briefest of moments.

In that split second, her flaming glow had taken down every other person in the room and they had made it down a hall and almost to the door before officers began appearing out of the woodwork brandishing certain death toward them.

Drakken looked at the spread of guns, tasers, and something he didn't recognize being pointed at them from every direction. He wanted to show some courage, but it was more weapons than he had ever seen in one place. And that unfamiliar one shaped like something between an electric razor and a garage door opener had him very concerned.

"Stand down!" an officer bellowed from about six feet away, and Drakken shied away from the sound. He peered up at Shego's bruised face to see her smirk grow. He swallowed anxiously.

She glanced at him. "Relax, but don't fall," she breathed.

"What?"

A second later his arm was yanked upward by the handcuff they shared and he nearly collapsed under the sudden weight of her feet on his shoulders.

_"Relax, but don't fall."_

Her words played in his head as he stumbled with his head down, fighting to retain balance with his arm being pulled to and fro as she blasted everyone who threatened them. He closed his eyes against the sounds of gunfire and electricity and a strange whooshing he was unfamiliar with, focusing instead on the familiar sound of her glow doing its work.

"Come on!" she shouted and he opened his eyes as his arm was yanked again, this time backward. He whirled around and grabbed the tiny chain of the cuff with his free hand to alleviate the pain on his wrist as they jumped over groaning bodies and headed toward the exit.

Moments later they were out on a darkened sidewalk, slightly illuminated by the headlights of passing cars and the dim bulbs of street lamps. He barely had a chance to glance around before she pulled him hard to the left and toward the nearest intersection.

It was early enough in the evening for the city to still be busy, so there were many startled gasps from pedestrians as they bolted away from the police station, from which he could now hear angrily shouted commands. His fingers hurt from pulling on the chain, but it did help the pain in his wrist slightly.

"Can't you run any faster?" she called back to him in annoyance, just as he was wishing she would slow down.

"This hurts!" he cried, pulling harder on the tiny chain.

"Take my hand," she said, and a moment later the yanking changed from the hard metal to the strength of her grip. His knees burned as he forced himself to run faster.

If they made it, it would definitely be due to her efforts. He was hopelessly out of shape, and had turned completely useless when faced with over a dozen deadly weapons. And now he didn't even know where they were.

They reached the intersection and Shego yanked him around to the driver's side of a car stopped at the red light. A bright green blast sent glass into the innocent driver's window and a moment later the door was yanked open and the Shego was tossing the person into the opposing lane.

Drakken had only a moment to process his side-kick's ferocity before his wrist was yanked again and he found himself sitting on glass and Shego's hands and feet tangled with his as she tried to get the car moving.

"Drive, you idiot!" she yelled as the car suddenly lurched forward and into a hard left turn. Drakken only saw flashing colors as he processed the glass piercing his thighs and the sensation in his stomach at his whole body being yanked. Car horns honked as Shego took them through cross-traffic toward the road she wanted, wherever they were. Clearly she knew.

"Would you get it together!?" she shouted in his ear again, and suddenly anger overrode every other sensation he was experiencing. He shoved her foot off of the gas pedal with his own and pushed her hands off of the steering wheel. Well, one of her hands. The other came right back with his as they were still cuffed together.

His focus returned as he wove their stolen vehicle through traffic, eliciting more honks and even some surprised brake-slams from the cars they passed. He turned at her command, and minutes later they were out of the city on the interstate, headed out into the country. The artificial urban lighting had been replaced by starlight, making the green hills look slightly blue as they continued through the thinning traffic.

Finally, Shego sighed and slumped in the passenger seat, her cuffed hand still loosely holding onto the steering wheel as he pushed the small car's limits. It was approaching ten o'clock, he saw on the car's clock, and the other cars on the road were getting fewer and farther between. He let his foot up and brought the car's speed down to a comfortable 75mph.

"Shego...where are we?"

She glanced at him. "Outside Lowerton. Heading south."

"But there's nothing south of Lowerton?"

"Exactly."

He realized then that he was still as tense as he had been at the police station, and forced his shoulders to relax. The middle of nowhere was definitely better than prison. Getting away was the first priority. Secondary were their world-domination plans.

He looked over at her again, longer this time, and noticed that her eye was bruised and swollen where Kim Possible's buffoon had kicked her.

"Is your eye okay?"

"Yeah. Vision's fine." She sat up and looked him over then, noting the darker blue and purple spots of skin on his face. "What happened to you?"

He lifted his right hand to press a bruise on his jaw. "Fought off one of the first responders before you woke up."

"Really?"

He glanced at her, slightly perturbed.

"Wow."

"So now what?" he sighed, speeding up again. He shivered from the whip of the wind through the broken window and shifted over in the seat, closer to the center console. He was grateful for the jackets they had put on just before being cuffed together—a consideration given due to the changing weather.

"We should get a different car. I'm surprised they didn't find us with a chopper."

Drakken swallowed nervously, but felt compelled to banter back. "Perhaps it's due to my superb getaway driving."

"Pft. Or dumb luck. Which granted, you have more than your share of. There," she leaned forward and pointed with her right hand. "Pull into that truck stop."

Drakken slowed the car down and took the next exit and pulled the car in to the filling station. He made sure to position the car so the broken window was hidden by the pump, and then turned off the ignition he sat back with a sigh.

"Now what?" he whispered, rubbing his arms against the cold.

Shego was looking over her shoulder at something through the rear window. "You hungry?"

* * *

One flaming green threat and another stolen car later—this time without a broken window—the two were speeding down the interstate again with cheap burgers in a bag in Shego's lap. Drakken laughed as she began downing the fries, a satisfied smirk on her face.

"Did you see his face? He looked about ready to soil himself!" Drakken cackled, remembering the poor teenage cashier at the Wallace's.

"Mmf, Dr. D.," she said as she shoved more fries in her mouth, "we've gotta ditch this car, too."

"Hey, save me some!" he said, reaching his cuffed hand down into the greasy bag.

"Ow, hey!" she said as her wrist was pulled by the metal.

"See what it feels like?" he said as he shoved several fries into his mouth.

"Hey! Eww!" she said as he wiped the oil off on the leg of the prison jumpsuit, her fingers brushing his. She jerked away, and he felt the familiar pain in his wrist again.

"Ow! Stop doing that!"

"Don't touch me with your greasy hands!"

"Nyghh... Just...where should we leave the car?"

"Pull off anywhere. We're close enough to that airport," she said, pointing with her free hand. He followed her angle to see a distant control tower, maybe five miles off. "We can get there on foot and steal a plane."

Drakken began looking ahead for an exit. "Why can't we drive in and steal a plane?"

"I think that's an Air Force base. Mowry Field?"

Drakken cringed. "Of course it is."

When they came to the top of a wooded hill, Drakken pulled the car off the road and as far away into the trees as he could. Shego opened her door and began getting out of the car before he even had his seat belt off, causing another sharp pain in his wrist.

"Ow! Shego!"

She shoved more fries in her mouth as she smirked back at him over her shoulder.

"Nghh. Cut it out!" he said as he threw the seat belt back and scrambled out after her. He reached for the bag, but she pulled it away, yanking his wrist again. "Owww!"

"Ugh, fine, here. Stop whining," she said as she handed him the bag. "You'll get every cop in the area out— Hey!" she said as her wrist was pulled when he started digging into the bag.

"I don't want to get my other hand greasy," he said.

"Well, you're gonna," she said, yanking his hand back out of the bag.

"Ow! Shego!"

They glared at each other for a moment before both looking down at their cuffed wrists. Drakken's eyes widened as he saw the bruises that had formed on both of them. When he looked up, she appeared almost as surprised.

"Ugh, just...wipe your hand off," she said. He complied, further dirtying the leg of the jumpsuit. The moment he had finished she grabbed his hand and started walking again, pulling him along far less painfully now. With only one hand free he was helpless to eat, and simply tucked their meal close to his chest as she navigated through the trees and up yet another hill.

The rumbling of a jet engine drew their attention just before they emerged from the trees atop a grassy hill that shimmered blue in the rising of the moon. Drakken looked around, taking in the vista before his gaze rested on the massive cargo jet taking off from the air field in the distance. They were probably less than a mile away now, and he could clearly see the layout of the field and the various ways they might be spotted sneaking in.

"There are no trees there."

"That's probably why they built the runway down there," Shego replied flatly, looking down at the exceptionally long airstrip.

"Great. They'll see us before we even get close."

"Relax," Shego said, leading him further out of the trees and onto the open grass of the hill. "I'm pretty sure this base is decommissioned. They'll close in a few minutes, and then we can sneak in."

"What? Really?" Drakken asked, staring at her. "When were you going to share this information?"

"I just did," she said, promptly sitting in the grass. He looked down at her in confusion, still holding her hand. "Well? I want my cheeseburger."

"Oh," he said, sitting next to her and setting the bag upright between them. She reached in with her free hand and pulled out one of the thin burgers, immediately tossing the wrapper aside and taking a bite.

Drakken pulled his out and then peered into the bag. "You ate all the fries!"

She only smiled as she chewed her bite of cheeseburger. He frowned as he dropped his burger in his lap and propped his soda can up against his knee. A wicked idea suddenly entered his mind, and he took her soda can out of the bag too and rolled it across the grass to her.

"Hey!"

He smirked as he tucked into his burger while she set the can upright at arm's length from the both of them on the grass.

"If we weren't stuck together I'd open this in your face."

"Shame you didn't steal the key on our way out," he said between bites.

"Why didn't you steal it?"

Drakken remembered the number of guns that had been pointed at them and his expression went solemn.

"Yeah," she responded to the look on his face. "There wasn't exactly time to be searching pockets," she said as she stuffed the last of the small burger in her mouth. Wallace's was known for their cheap fast food, and it definitely was never Drakken's first choice. But one took what they could get at interstate truck stops.

He chewed another bite of his burger, wiping his mouth with his sleeve as he took in their situation. Their held hands rested on the grass between them as they sat far closer than he was used to due to their confinement. He let his gaze travel from their held hands up to her bruised face. On the way he noted two clean bullet-holes through the sleeve of her jacket.

"Shego, what was that thing they pointed at you back at the police station?"

"The phone-looking thing? Dunno, they didn't use it. Never seen anything like it," she said as she reached across and grabbed his soda can propped up against his knee.

"Shego!" he growled in annoyance as his hand was suddenly lifted and released as she opened the can. He barely registered her fingers wrapping around his again as he watched her pour back the drink with a satisfied smirk. "I wanted that..."

"Next time don't mess with mine," she said between swallows.

He grumpily shoved the rest of his burger in his mouth, leaning on his elbow as he glared at her. A low rumbling drew his eyes back to the airport where this time a USPS cargo jet was landing.

He should have been thinking about what kind of plane they would steal, how to fuel it up without being noticed by security, and whether or not it would get them back to the Caribbean. But he kept looking back at the bullet-holes in her jacket sleeve and remembering their dramatic escape.

"Ah...Shego? That was very...impressive, back at the police station."

For a moment she seemed to be analyzing his words, but apparently settled on accepting them at face-value as she leaned back on one hand with a smug smile. It looked a bit comical with her swollen eye.

"Thanks, Doc."

"How did you avoid being shot? They fired so many times..." he said, remembering the deafening sound.

"I just banked on the element of surprise. That they wouldn't expect me to go up."

Still staring at the bullet-holes, something else suddenly occurred to him.

"How did you know they wouldn't shoot me?"

Her grin faltered only slightly. No one else would have noticed. "I figured...since they're the good guys, they wouldn't care about you since you weren't a threat."

He frowned and stared down at the oil-stains on his pant leg. "Quite the gamble."

"Hey, it worked," she said, letting go his hand to use her other to lean back.

The action pulled him off balance and he fell on his back, his feet going up in the air.

"Shego!"

She chuckled.

"Ngh... Warn me before you do something like that!"

Her only response was to lay back on the grass next to him and take his hand again. He glanced over at her and felt a sudden unease. The position they were in was decidedly unprofessional. But holding her hand was better than having his wrist yanked on by the handcuff.

"Uhm... How long will it be...until the airport closes?"

"Any minute now. But the employees will have to lock up and leave, so we should wait a little longer."

Drakken looked across the grass at the unopened soda that he had shaken and wondered if it was worth the risk. Considering the chill and that the prison jumpsuit and jacket were very thin, he decided it wasn't. He sighed and stared up at the stars.

His heart suddenly leapt as he felt Shego's fingers steal between his where their hands lay in the grass. He wished they weren't cuffed together...

"We should make sure to steal a plane that's fairly quiet. I want to go back and get the enzyme without any more hassle," he said. Focusing on the plan was a good distraction.

"What?" Shego said, leaning up on her elbow. "You want to go back? Shouldn't we hit the lair and change first?"

"That enzyme is essential to my plans. I need it now!"

She lay in the grass again. "Those mutant fruits with teeth you were doodling? Is that what this has been about?"

He rolled on his side to look at her. "I'll have you know that the formula I've developed is fool-proof! The average unsuspecting consumer will purchase their apples and oranges, and then after five minutes in the fridge—zowie! A citrus the size of a house destroys the block!"

"You don't refrigerate apples and oranges."

The evil grin slowly faded from Drakken's face as he refocused on the bored look the woman across from him sported.

"You don't?"

"Nope," she said as she sat up, forcing him up with her where their hands were joined.

He frowned as the images of giant fruit destroying towns evaporated from his mind.

"Killer vines would be better if you have to go the plant route," she said, standing and squeezing his hand. He got the message and stood up next to her. "Of course, you don't have to do every single mad scientist stereotype."

Drakken bit his lip. He had really wanted to do killer fruit...

"All right, the tower is shut down. Let's go."

"Wait," he said, pulling her back as he reached for the unopened soda.

"Hey!" she complained as she stumbled back into him. "Warn a person, why don't you?"

"I did," he frowned.

"Look, just...okay, hold still."

She let go of his hand and moved hers to the side until the chain of the handcuffs was taut. He was confused only for a moment until her hand lit up and a tiny blast of her glow severed the small chain. She didn't even look at him before turning and heading down the hill toward the airport.

"You...you mean you could have done that this whole time!?" he called after her.

"Didn't want you whining about getting burned," she called back.

His brow rose. It was true, he hated when she shot him. But once they were out of the police station wouldn't it have been easier if they'd been separated?

"Now come on. The sooner we get your stupid enzyme, the sooner we get back to the lair."

He shook his head as he jogged after her, his thoughts turning to the potential evil that could be done with killer vines. He stretched his hand a few times as the chain slapped against his fingers and he glanced at Shego again, several yards ahead of him now.

His hand suddenly felt warm.

-  
fin.


End file.
